Playwrights’ Theatre of East Hampton Returns to LTV

LTV Studios has announced the return of the groundbreaking Playwrights’ Theatre of East Hampton series. Founded in 1992 by Mitzi and Perry Pazer the series is now revived, with their blessings, by producer Josh Gladstone. Playwrights’ Theatre will relaunch, in association with Sawyer Spielberg’s Where Are They Going Theatre Company, to present a staged reading of “Stupid F*cking Bird” by Aaron Posner on Thursday, August 3, and Friday, August 4, at 8 p.m. at LTV’s Studio Three black-box stage.

“Stupid F*cking Bird,” an adaptation of Chekhov’s masterpiece “The Seagull,” stages timeless battles between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of life. It stars Sawyer Spielberg, Kate Mueth, Raye Levine, Joe Pallister, Will Sturek, Jess Mortellaro and Ed Kassar. Directed by Heen Sasithorn Sturek, “Stupid F*cking Bird” tells the story of an aspiring young director’s rampage against the art created by his mother’s generation; a nubile young actress’s rivalry with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist; and everyone’s discovery of just how surprising love, art and growing-up can be. Original songs composed by James Sugg draw the famously subtextual inner thoughts of Chekhov’s characters explicitly to the surface. “Stupid F*cking Bird” will tickle, tantalize, and incite audience members to consider how art, love and revolution fuel one’s own pursuit of happiness.

The Playwrights’ Theatre was founded in East Hampton in 1992 by producer and Springs resident Mitzi Pazer from The Roundabout Theatre Company along with her husband, attorney Perry Pazer. They started the series at LTV, where it operated every summer for 10 years before shifting to the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall for another 10 seasons. Incredible stars took part — Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Judd Hirsch, Estelle Parsons, Dianne Wiest, Peter Boyle, Jack Klugman, Mercedes Ruehl, Tovah Feldshuh and Charles Durning, among countless others. Playwright’s Theatre East Hampton gave audiences a chance to meet and mingle with these luminaries in a relaxed setting where process and dialogue were encouraged with great talkbacks and informal garden receptions. The emphasis was on the written and spoken word, with playwrights being selected by Mitzi and afforded a remarkable, focused and hospitable workshop in which to hear and shape their developing plays.

When Michael Clark invited producer Josh Gladstone, who was the artistic director of the John Drew Theater for many years, to join the LTV team in early 2023, Gladstone reached out to the Pazers with an invitation and sure enough the Pazers responded, excited to see their legacy of 30 years reignited and reimagined for a new generation of East Hampton theater lovers and artists. LTV is proud to welcome The Playwrights’ Theatre back home to Studio 3 in Wainscott, where the work of the Pazers will continue, offering creative opportunities to theater-makers to develop their voices and imaginations throughout the year.

The Playwrights’ Theatre series continues at LTV in the coming months with the offbeat new comedy “Before Vinson,” by New York City playwright Michael C. O’Day, on September 16; followed by a two-week run of David Mamet’s early comedy “The Duck Variations” from October 6 to 15, directed by LTV’s Carlos Garcia; and concludes on October 21, with a concert staging of the new romance “A Milonga for Gabriel Isaacs” by Wainscott-based author John McCaffrey and his writing partner Adam Singer, accompanied by live music and dance performed by Sandra Antognazzi’s dynamic Tango Fusion company.

General admission tickets are $30 in advance ($35 at the door). VIP front-row café tables will also be available for $75. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ltveh.org. LTV Studios is at 75 Industrial Road, Wainscott. For more information, call 631-537-2777.